Seeing the heavy workload, John’s boss leaped into action by hiring two additional layers of management to glare at John until he produces more.

TIPS & TRICKS

How to Climb the Corporate Ladder

with Marcel Becker

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Nobody likes to be stuck.

Maybe you’re in a role where you’re stuck with work that feels insignificant, and you’d like to tackle bigger, more important projects. Maybe you’ve been working the same job for some years and you think you deserve an increase in pay, responsibility, and respect. Or maybe you’re trying to mentor someone who’s young and ambitious, and you’d like to help them figure out how to navigate their organization.

There’s no reason to lose hope. Our faith teaches us about Joseph, who climbed out of slavery and became the second most powerful man in Egypt, because of his “excellent spirit,” and Daniel, a prisoner of war, who became the most trusted advisor in all of Babylon and later Persia because of his “excellent spirit.” But what does it mean to have an excellent spirit? And how do we apply these principles to the modern world of work to climb the corporate ladder to success?

In my mind, there are few people better equipped to give tips on how to do so than Marcel Becker.

Marcel has an incredible personal history, where due to life circumstances, he started his career late in life, with three small kids, no job history, and a dead-end minimum wage job at the docks. But through his tireless dedication and a pragmatic work philosophy, Marcel climbed the ranks until he owned the company he had previously worked for. Today, Marcel counts numerous waterfront mega-operations in his employment history and is known as a titan of the industry. He sits on influential boards, and has been recognized numerous times for his civic contributions, financial stewardship, and service. Now currently heading up operations for Propulsion Controls Engineering, Marcel is a sought-after talent in his field who has consistently demonstrated an ability to ascend in responsibility and prominence, regardless of who he works for. He exemplifies that excellent spirit we read about in Old Testament stories.

I sat down with Marcel to ask him his thoughts on how anyone can rise in leadership.
Marcel is a serious-looking individual, with gray hair well-earned, professional attire, and a courteous, open demeanor. After exchanging greetings and briefly catching up, he was quick to get down to business.

“It’s not rocket science,” he says of climbing the corporate ladder. “If I had to summarize it all into one main theme, it’s to take every opportunity to exceed expectations and distinguish yourself. You’ve got so many folks who get stuck in a pattern of saying, ‘Hey, it’s not in my pay grade,’ or ‘That’s not my job,’ so they end up just swimming in the stream, not making any headway. But it’s all about distinguishing yourself to leadership.”

To Marcel’s way of thinking, fulfilling your job description is the minimum that is required of an employee, when oftentimes we can feel like we deserve a pat on the back just for fulfilling what we are paid to do. Marcel says getting noticed is all about going the extra mile.

“The only way you’re going to distinguish yourself is by doing the extraordinary,” he says. “If you’re in an environment where production counts, you can practice what I call the ‘20 Minute Dividend.’ That’s where you show up 5 minutes early every day, work 5 minutes into lunch, leave lunch 5 minutes early, and stay 5 minutes after quitting time. Then every day, you’re gaining an extra 20 minutes of production. In a week, that’s an hour and 40 minutes. In a month, that’s half a shift. After 6 months, you’ve produced a week more than everyone else in the room. That extra investment will distinguish you so that anybody can see it.”

It sounds like simple advice – and it is – but there’s more to it. If you’re consistently following the 20-minute dividend as Marcel describes it, people will get used to thinking of you as one of the first people getting to work, one of the last people to leave, and someone who cares about the goals of his team more than the sanctity of his lunchtime. All excellent branding if you want to be put in charge.

“I’m a big champion of social graces,” Marcel adds. “Be polite, be courteous, and really make an effort to be a pleasant individual. Nobody understands how much people appreciate working with and working for a pleasant person. It’s just that simple.

“Another thing that I would encourage people to do,” he continues, “is not to be emotional at work. Let’s admit it; there are a lot of situations at work that can really get under your skin. But emotion makes absolutely no contribution to any [professional] situation whatsoever. All it’s going to do is distract you from the issue at hand, and when you come off of that cloud, you’ll still be faced with it. So why don’t you just start with the issue and forgo the emotional journey? That takes an amount of discipline, though.”

When I asked him if he could name some reasons an ambitious person might get stuck in a job, unable to move up, he was quick to provide me with an answer and some insight.

“When you’re in charge of a certain function or business unit, you have to go the extra mile to completely understand the yardstick. We’re all measured by something. In my world, it’s financials, so I need to know how my financials work inside and out, from the balance sheet to the profit and loss statement, to individual projects on how their earned value analysis works. You have to have subject matter fluency. If you don’t, that will be a major impediment to your ability to advance. If you don’t understand the yardstick, when it comes time for accountability, you’re going to be left in the cold.”

In other words, you can’t just throw your hands up and say, “I’m not an engineer,” if there are engineers on your team, or “I’m not a numbers guy,” if your department involves accounting. You don’t have to do everyone else’s job, but if you want to prove to your superiors that you can manage a diverse group that handles various aspects of the company, you need to have a handle on how it all works.

“Remember,” Marcel adds, “The quickest way to advance is to help get your boss advanced. When your boss moves up, that creates a leadership vacuum – and who do you think is going to fill that leadership vacuum? The guy who always goes the extra mile, who shows up on time, who always does more, who is the politest person to deal with, with a great attitude, or is it going to be the guy who says, ‘Hey, that’s not my job’?”

As we ended our interview, I realized that it was 6 am in California, where Marcel works, and that he had already been in the office for an hour. He practices what he preaches, and if you want to move up in your company, it might be worth taking his advice.

Marcel Becker is an industry leader in waterfront operations and works as the Vice President of Propulsion Controls Engineering in San Diego, CA. He regularly gives talks as a motivational speaker and works with Second Chance San Diego to inspire ex-convicts to reform and improve their lives through honest work. Read about Marcel’s incredible life story in Free at Last: trading a Life of Crime for Family, Faith, and Success in Business.

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